Created: 30 March 2022 · Last edited: 26 September 2026

Smartphones specifically moulded to help elderly users make the switch from flip keitai with buttons to slab phones with big touchscreens are a truly Japanese thing. While previously only SoftBank offered a special series title Simple Sumaho, some six months after the sixth instalment in the series, carrier au is launching the exact same device only titled BASIO active.

The SoftBank Simple Sumaho 6 (A201SH) and the au BASIO active (SHG09) have very little to tell them apart.

This Simple-Sumaho 6/BASIO active has a 5.7-inch display with a resolution of 720 x 1520 px. The display is 0.2 inches larger than that on the Simple-Sumaho5 (launching two years ago) but the resolution has been decreased significantly from 2160 x 1080 px. Sharp's Rich Color Technology Mobile is still employed and ensures wide colour gamut and accurate colour-mapping for vivid and beautiful but also close to real life imagery. A special function called "Clear View" automatically adjusts colour vividness and appearance to make it easier for the elderly to see details.

Further assistance is provided in the form of a dedicated icon in the centre of the tile menu – pressing it contacts a dedicated support team that will assist the user with issues they may be having with their device.

The Simple Sumaho 6/BASIO active comes with a dual-lens camera a wide-angle 12-megapixel sensor and a 1.9-megapixel depth sensor that enables blurred background shooting. This is again a downgrade from the previous model which has a 13 MP main sensor and a 5 MP secondary. The added Artificial Intelligence should now help recognise the subject being captured and automatically selects the best camera mode. The sensor is also equipped with shake reduction.

The inner camera is 8 megapixels and has a wide-angle lens, too. The camera (aided by AI) is capable of recognising the phone's owner for face-unlocking even when wearing a mask... I find this disturbing.

Like all previous phones of the series, the Simple Sumaho 6/BASIO active has three hardware buttons below the display: dial, home, and email, and a dedicated voice search button on the side.

The phone has also been equipped with a louder than usual speaker and stronger vibrator. An emergency buzzer is also featured that allows the user to notify select contacts of an emergency situation. Further enhancements include noise cancelling, speech enhancement, and echo cancellation during while talking. A "slow talk" feature will play back the other party's voice slower to facilitate hearing. Another safety feature includes the "I'm fine email", which the user can activate at the press of a button to send a fixed-content message to a pre-specified recipient.

The Simple Sumaho 6/BASIO active does not have OneSeg digital terrestrial television, whereas the previous model had it.

This is the first phone in the series that has a fingerprint sensor.

The 4000 mAh battery is advertised as capable of lasting one week.

The Simple Sumaho 6/BASIO active can be washed with hand soap and sterilised with alcohol-soaked tissues. It is waterproof, dust-proof, and has military-grade impact resistance.

The phone measures 158 x 71 x 9.4 mm and weighs 174 grams.

It is released with Android 12.